Tanana Valley rivers overflow, flooding some homes

The surge Monday night marked the second straight day of flood-level water in area rivers after a weekend storm dumped more than 3 inches of rain into river basins around the Tanana Valley.

''I went to bed at 11:30 last night and there wasn't a drop of water in the yard and I woke up this morning to go to work and there were 6 inches in the yard,'' Jim Stone, who lives at Mile 32.5 of the Richardson Highway, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. ''I had to wade out to my car.''

Stone's home was one of about a half dozen that experienced some kind of flooding on Tuesday when the rain-swollen Salcha River overflowed its banks and pushed a surge of water into the Tanana River, filling sloughs and channels all the way back to the Richardson Highway in some places.

It marked the second straight day of flood-level water in area rivers after a weekend storm dumped more than 3 inches of rain into river basins around the Tanana Valley.

Residents on Highline Lane, a low-lying area near the mouth of the Salcha River, reported flooding around their homes, as did some residents along the Richardson Highway, where the gushing Tanana River had backfilled old sloughs out to the highway. A few families evacuated their homes and were staying with neighbors, according to Rob Weathers of Salcha Rescue.

''The residents all seem to be prepared,'' said Weathers. ''They've been listening to the radio and we've advised them of the current situation.

''If they need help, they'll call,'' he said, noting that many had experienced similar ''high water episodes'' in the past. ''People are pretty self sufficient.''

The Salcha River finally crested at around noon on Tuesday at 16.9 feet, the highest recorded since 1986, according to Ted Fathauer at the National Weather Service. By 4:30 p.m. it had dropped to 16.7 feet.

''It turns out the Salcha had a good amount of water in it,'' he said.